WITH only a few weeks into their work, the unity of a National Council for Building a Better Fiji team is being threatened by the controversy surrounding Kadavu House.
Ratu Josateki Nawalowa-lo, chairman of the Kadavu Provincial Council, is threatening to pull out of the National Taskforce Team on Growing the Economy if interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry does not agree to meet with him to clear the air on the issue.
Not only is Ratu Josateki a member of the taskforce, he co-chairs it with Mr Chaudhry.
Yesterday, Ratu Josateki said there was a misunderstanding on Mr Chaudhry's part over Kadavu House and the issue of ownership.
"I want to talk to Mr Chaudhry on this issue and already asked for an appointment with him for this week so that we can discuss this issue and get some clarification on it," he said.
"I have no intention of meeting with the interim Prime Minister because this issue has been raised by Mr Chaudhry and if I can meet him and solve this, then there would not be any need for me to meet with the interim PM."
Last week, Mr Chaudhry had intervened, stopped all rental payment for Kadavu House and recommended an investigation be carried out into the real ownership of the property.
Government forked out $884,882.80 in rent for five months for Kadavu House which remained unoccupied during that time.
In a press statement, Mr Chaudhry had said Kadavu House was not owned by the Kadavu Provincial Council.
Instead, he said, the provincial council was used as a front by Kadavu Holdings Ltd, Kadavu Development Company Ltd and the ousted SDL government to secure favourable treatment under the affirmative action program.
Yesterday, Ratu Josateki said both the companies were owned by the Kadavu Provincial Council.
"More than 80 per cent of shares in Kadavu Develop-ment Ltd is owned by the people of Kadavu, which means it is owned by the Kadavu Provincial Council while the remaining percentage of shares are owned by individuals," he said.
He said the negotiations to secure government's agreement to rent the eight-storey building following its completion was made with former interim Public Enterprise Minister Poseci Bune.
He said they could not be blamed for the delay in completing the building because the delay had been caused by government.
"The initial agreement was for the Public Service Commission to move into Kadavu House and so the fittings were being done to accommodate them.
"But then we were informed by Mr Bune that it would be occupied by the Fiji Police Force and so we had to change the fittings which caused this delay."
Ratu Josateki said they had been accused of not filing their annual returns with the Registrar of Com-panies but they were in the process of doing just that.
"Mr Chaudhry should be questioning the members of his own interim Government. We are co-chairs of the taskforce and I would have appreciated it if he discussed this with me first instead of making it public in the media," he said.
He said he would wait for Mr Chaudhry to confirm a meeting with him to clear up the misunderstanding.
"If he doesn't agree then I might also be compelled to pull out my province from its support of the People's Charter," he said.
Permanent Secretary in the PM's Office, Parmesh Chand, said yesterday it was not an issue for the PM's office to comment on.
He said it was a matter between Mr Chaudhry and Ratu Josateki and it should be discussed by them.
Technical and Support Secretariat director John Samy said he was not aware of the situation nor the decision Ratu Josateki was planning on taking.
"I will have to talk to him (Ratu Josateki) tomorrow," he said.
Despite our best efforts, Mr Chaudhry could not be reached for a comment yesterday.